...Running Head: Role of the Federal Government 1 Role of the Federal Government Winter 2012 © American Intercontinental University 2012 Running head: Role of the Federal Government 2 The history of the United States has derived from several major events. These events helped to define the development of the United States as well as expansion in political, social, and economical ways. The role of the federal government was defined by these major events and assisted in shaping the U.S. in the way it is today, whether good or bad. The Civil War, The Progressive Era, The Great Depression, and the Civil Rights Era all helped to shape and define the United States of America into the way it is today. Let’s start off first by taking a look at a war that defined the United States of America into being a united nation. The Civil War was a war that was fought between the northern and southern states within the U.S. The confederacy states, which were the southern states, supported slavery. Among other things, this was one of the biggest issues which the war was started and fought over. The Union States, which were the northern states, supported the union which was against slavery and unequal right of all people. So, in essence the civil war was fought and won so that all people regardless of race, economical status, gender, etc…could have equal...
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...three years, the United States remained neutral and did not take part in the war. However, in 1917, the US Congress declared war against Germany forces due to two main reasons. First, the US government had signed an agreement with the Germany government that the Germany Submarines should not attack passenger ships in the Mediterranean Sea and North Atlantic Ocean. In February 1917, the Germany violated this agreement which annoyed the US government. Second, the Germany government had written a letter advising Mexico to attack the US. This letter was intercepted by the British, and when the United States received it, the Congress declared war against the Germany forces. The First World War was debatable war in America because there were conflicting pubic opinions. On one hand was German Americans, who were with the German government. Most of the Americans with British and France, on the other hand, origin supported the Entente forces and wanted the US to fight against the Germany. Therefore, President Wilson feared that the war would divide the country....
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...THE PROGRESSIVE ERA OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION PROGRESSIVE ERA THE GREAT DEPRESSION DESRINE SINCLAIR HISTORY 105 DR. TERRY HAMMONS MAY 12, 2012 IDENTIFY 2 MAJOR HISTORICAL TURNING POINTS BETWEEN THE PROGRESSIVE ERA AND THE GREAT DEPRESSION. In the recent studies that I have previously experienced one of the turning points in the progressive era and the Great Depression solely rely on the habits on how the United States was brought into the Great War of World War II. I have learned from early history that World War II was a turning point for the American people we as a nation was brought together to defeat the Axis of power which is widely known as the German power house. Hitler was the benefit of this war that the United States tried so hard to avoid. In the recent information that I have put together there was evidence that many people did not want the U.S. to get involved. We as a country was facing our own economic problems the Stock Market crashes and many investors who placed solely all their savings, checks and balances in the trust of the banking systems. The failure of the baking systems placed a strong grip on the American people forcing them to profit off other means such as hoarding their possessions and even entering into the war against Hitler and his German advisories. During the ordeal there also was a mass accumulation of immigrants into the United States and many were from Ireland, did not want the United States to intervene in the War to assist the...
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...Part I: Pre-crisis time, what caused crisis, reasons of collapse In 1920s the economic progress in United States seemed everywhere, as Americans emerged from the self-imposed rationing and sacrifice of World War I and went on a buying spree. Millions of people across the country bought their first everything—their first automobile, washing machine, camera, radio, refrigerator. These products came off America’s assembly lines in an endless stream. More people were at work in U.S. factories and production plants than ever before, producing more goods than ever before. The U.S. economy was sometimes compared to an economic miracle. Consumers in the United States were not the only ones to experience good times. U.S. investors had also had a field day. Overseas, U.S. investments nearly doubled from $3.98 billion in 1919 to $7.5 billion by 1929. The New York Stock Exchange, which served for many as the truest indicator of the nation’s economic pulse, enjoyed phenomenal growth, especially after 1923. Stock purchases on the Exchange increased four-fold between 1923 and 1930. And stock sales were only outstripped by the rise in stock prices. Altogether, investment in the stock market and in bonds rose sharper than any other economic indicator during the decade, faster, in fact, than the actual production or sales of manufactured goods. During the 1920s a would-be investor could make his or her stock purchases largely on credit. Under the rules in place for the New York Stock Exchange,...
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...RESEARCH QUESTION: How far was the Wall Street Crash the main cause for the Great Depression? A. Plan of the Investigation 1 B. Summary of Evidence 1 C. Evaluation of Sources 3 D. Analysis 5 E. Conclusion 7 F. Bibliography 8 A. Plan of the investigation The investigation considers the extent to which the Wall Street Crash was the main cause for the Great Depression that hit the Unites States throughout the 1930s, whose effects were spread worldwide. For this purpose the investigation assesses the significance of the crash in the stock market in relation to other factors that were also relevant. Through the selection and summary of relevant written sources, the investigation examines the 1920’s the domestic and international problems during the “prosperous” years that triggered the crisis. In order to reach a conclusion two of the sources: The Great Depression by Lionel Robbins and The Great Depression and The New Deal by Robert F. Himmelberg are evaluated for their origin, purpose, values and limitations. Word count: 120 B. Summary of evidence By the time the United States entered the First World War in 1917, the USA was the world’s biggest economic power[1]. Its role in providing extra equipment and a supply of fresh soldiers was instrumental in the final Allied victory[2]. The artificial prosperity of the war years was followed by an inevitable collapse[3]...
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...analyze the Great Depression, and answer the following questions in a paper: • What were the root causes/events that led to the Great Depression? 10 points The Great Depression was a worldwide economic downturn that began in 1929 and lasted until about 1939. It was the longest and most severe depression ever experienced by the industrialized Western world. Although the Depression originated in the United States, it resulted in drastic declines in output, severe unemployment, and acute deflation in almost every country of the globe. But its social and cultural effects were no less staggering, especially in the United States, where the Great Depression ranks second only to the Civil War as the gravest crisis in American history (Great Depression, 2013). The fundamental cause of the Great Depression in the United States was a decline in spending (sometimes referred to as aggregate demand), which led to a decline in production as manufacturers and merchandisers noticed an unintended rise in inventories. The sources of the contraction in spending in the United States varied over the course of the Depression, but they cumulated into a monumental decline in aggregate demand. The American decline was transmitted to the rest of the world largely through the gold standard. However, a variety of other factors also influenced the downturn in various countries. The most prolonged departure from the normal stability of U.S. long-term growth occurred during the Great Depression...
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...Progressive Era through the Great Depression For this assignment I will discuss the major turning points in American history between the Progressive Era and the Great Depression. Analyze how some historical events shape America’s current society, economy, politics, and culture. Describe ways that women and minorities have responded to challenges and made contributions to American culture. Recognize and discuss the ways that formal policies of government have influenced the direction of historical and social development in the United States. Analyze the rise of the United States to a world “super-power” and how that status has shaped its internal developments in recent decades. Identify how changes in social and economic conditions and technology can cause corresponding changes in the attitudes of the people and policies of the government. Identify at least (2) two major historical turning points in the period under discussion. The first major historical turning point was the changing roles of women. Women won the right to vote with the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, one of the final great reforms of the Progressive era. A group of congressmen proposed an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution in 1923. It states: “Men and women shall have equal rights throughout the United States and every place subject to its jurisdiction” (Schultz, 2012 p.379). The amendment’s objective was to eliminate all legal distinctions between the sexes, such as those who permitted different...
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...American history from 1877: How the Great Depression compare to The Current Economic Recession affecting the US American history from 1877: How the Great Depression compare to The Current Economic Recession affecting the US. Introduction In 1929s, a global depression hit countries with market economies. Despite the fact that the Great Depression was moderately gentle in some nations, it had very severe effects on others, especially the America. In the United States, the great depression went down in history as one of the worst economic crisis, which left a deep-seated situation, leading to joblessness, starvation and homelessness for over a decade in the US. The Great Depression in America also led a great global depression, as typically each industrialized economy including Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain, France, and others, was completely destructed. Various economists and the media have often linked the current economic crisis that heightened in 2008 to the great depression which occurred decades ago. Looking at the implications of the great depression and what is happening today, clearly there are several direct similarities between the two economic crises. Through a brief analysis of the two economic scenarios, this paper hence aims to show how they are related. What are the similarities with the current financial crisis? Some of the similarities between today’s economic situation and the Great Depression of 1920s include: High rates of unemployment- Economic forces...
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...Although women in the United States were granted the right to vote in 1920 with the nineteenth amendment, subsequent world events, such as World War II, and home events, such as the Great Depression, returned women to their previous state of lacking political power and limited social roles. During the middle of the twentieth century, women were expected to adhere to the image of domesticity, to derive satisfaction only from being housewives and mothers. The social pressure to return to a life without the previous problems of the earlier decades, left women believing that their duty was to remain at home and to ensure the best for their families. This led to many women internalizing their frustrations with the lack of choices and independence that...
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...The Great Depression was a time where the United States economy was at it’s lowest , it started in 1929 and lasted 10 years until stability was finally found again. Not only did the Great Depression affect the economy , it affected the lives the US citizens. President Franklin Roosevelt elected in 1932 took measures to fix this economic issue and although it took some time United States of America was back with a stable economy but it wasn’t the same America as before , as the federal government’s role had changed during Franklin Roosevelt's Presidency , President Roosevelt and his new projects and ideas helped America go through this Great Depression and still to this day , it all helped America to still be one of the greatest countries. The Great Depression had not only just one cause but it was different issues that led to this era , a surplus of goods was one of the causes and although it should be the “more the better? it wasn’t the case here . Farmers and other...
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...World War II began in 1939 and ended in 1945, but the United States of America did not enter the war until 1941. They wanted to stay neutral and not get involved in foreign affairs. On September 5, 1939, the United States government declares its neutrality in the European conflict. They would only supply and sale military goods. This help creates more jobs to American struggling from the effects of the great depression. In some ways, the war was beneficial to the United States but for majority it was destructive, many lives were lost during the war. The war helps by taking the United states out of the Great Depression period. There were other effects that helped relief American from the great depression, like president franklin Roosevelt new deal programs. Although Franklin D. Roosevelts New Deal did not end the Great Depression it reduced people's suffering and changed many of the problems that contributed to the depression by providing relief, recovery, and reform while essentially changing the role of the federal government. Shortly after President Franklin Roosevelt took office he started to pass legislation to...
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...The Great Depression of 1929 which originated in the United States of America was one of the worst times for the history of the USA’s economy.It started by the end of 1929 and lasted till 1933. It started as a recession which was getting worse and industrial output in the USA decreased by 47% and Gross Domestic Product fell by 30%(Duignan3 ). Unemployment had increased more than 20% at the worst times of the depression that lasted until 1933. The Great depression spread to almost every country in the world, ranging from Europe to Latin America and Asia. The causes of the great depression had been very controversial among scholars who studied that period. Ben Bernanke has said before, “to understand the Great Depression is the Holy Grail of...
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...“PROGRESSIVE ERA THROUGH THE GREAT DEPRESSION” August 3, 2013 Introduction: The Great Depression was an era in the American history that so many people would wish to forget. The 1920s saw the country going through various phases of poverty resulting from the crash of the stock market, job losses, collapsing of businesses in all industries in the country. The Great Depression was like no other crisis the country faced, it was never ending and there was suffering everywhere especially among the poor. There were three major factors that contributed significantly to the Great Depression with the most important being the ‘crash’ of the stock market, this is due to the fact that the strength of the United States of America was measured in many ways by the success of the stock market and with the stock market thriving as it was there was noticeable growth in various business entities. With the growth of the stock market, the rich investors also prospered as they could afford to purchase various stocks, at the same time the Federal Government reduced taxes especially for them. Not long after, came the ‘crash’ of stock market which sent Wall Street into a state of panic and literally crippled many big investors, and this ricochet to other industries such as Agriculture, which was already on the decline, the automobile and the construction industry also suffered as a result. www.history.com Another interesting contributor to the Great Depression is the European economy, its...
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...majorly impacted by was the 1930s through the beginning of the 1940s. This period has been often one to be discussed about due to the government positions, the economic status, distinct gender roles and the cultural patterns of the United States. During the 1930’s the modern bureaucracy was created to help control the power of the government. This was known the public as being represented by two different parties, the Republican and the Democrats (Gale). The change between the two political powers was shown greatly when the shift from Herbert Hoover to Franklin Roosevelt occurred. This showed a great shift in how the government ran. Also by having an isolationist government during the period between WW1 and WW2 in the United States (Gale). This allowed the US to stay...
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...Another one of the main causes for the Great Depression was due to the high tariffs and war debts. Many European nations owed billions of dollars to the United States. These nations that were so far in debt were impacted so strongly by World War I that they had no way of paying back their debt. The United States insisted the debt be paid off. The allies then demanded that Germany pay them through the Treaty of Versailles. This led to financial crisis when Europe couldn’t purchase goods from the United States. The United States also passed the Fordney-McCumber Act in 1922, which put high tariffs, or tax, on industrial products that were imports. This angered the other nations and they retaliated which led to a decline in world trade which was a major contributor to the Great Depression. A decline in world trade leads to a decline in Real GDP and this is bad for the economy. Overproduction in industry also played a pivotal role in the Great Depression. While factories were producing mass amounts of products, wages were not increasing at the same pace. Due to low wages and overproduction, workers could not afford to buy all of the factory output. The United States tried to sell the surplus of goods overseas, but the high tariffs and lack of money in Europe did not support this solution. An additional overproduction also occurred in the agriculture and farm industry. The average income for farm families was about a third of what average American families were...
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